'Learning to Play' - An Alternative Way

[HappeR]

I prefer starting out with a small (3-7 province thingy) nation, my first game was with France, a powerful nation, but also a huuuuuge nation. I quit because I was overwhelmed by all the armies, advisors, trade things and colonists which were just begging for my undivided attention. After getting into a big war, I quit the game and started again as one of the German minors, I believe Mecklenburg (spelled right now, I hope), and didn't set too high goals for myself. I wanted one or two small colonies, and a bit more land in Germany.

This game was a lot more fun, for me, because I started in a pretty nice situation, with a few 1 province nations around me, and I got quite a nice deal when negotiating for an Alliance with Sweden and the Teutonic Order. Those minors were all allied with each other, so when I decided to invade one of them, I had to resort to taking two 1 province nations and one 2 province nation in one war, which was pretty easy, with help from Sweden. After this, my relations with Sweden worsened, and I decided to abandon the Alliance. This was right on time, because three months after the alliance was dissolved, Sweden attacked what was left of Norway (1 province in Scandinavia and the Orkney Islands), and got into a nasty war with Scotland, England and France.

I had taking the three Dutch minors too, Utrecht decided to have a go at expanding into Meckelnburger territory, with support from Poland, and I had to take them down and kick the Poles out of my beautiful kingdom (tehy r steeling our jubs ohnoes!). After this little war, I took out Gelre and Friesland because they were just too hard to resist.

After this war, I had some badboy issues, and decided to kiss Castille's butt and trying to have a go at colonizing modern day Canada. At this time, I have almost all of modern day Canada, half of Germany, Denmark, Northern Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. I also have a small colony in Africa, but I think Aragon is going to eat it, since they are not being nice to my ally, Castille, and it's right next to my lands.

This about sums up the progress of my first campaign. Please note that I *did* read the manual before I started playing, but didn't play the tutorials.

[The Walrus]

Yeah i played the tutorials, didn't read manual, and tried playing as Great Britain. Didn't "get" the game, (was getting invaded by france etc) and put EU3 down. Month later, I pick it up again, play tutorials, have manuel right beside me, pick mecklenburg and set modest goals. Having an idea what you want to do helps a lot.

[HappeR]

France is a pain, they always go berzerk through Europe. Good thing they aren't really active when it comes to colonies, most of the time, though.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

When you've misplaced your manual without learning how to play it's rough going...I'm getting a bit overwhelmed and can't help but feel it's a bit too complicated for my tastes...

[HappeR]

Good thing you can't misplace the tutorials, after this game, I played the tutorials, to see if I had missed something, they're really good!

[NaptownKnight]

I have the Gamergate version and there is no way in **** I want to print out a 180 something page manual so I don't use on. I guess I could just leave my window open and minimize the game for a quick read, I just don't for some reason.

[The White Knight]

I just bought EU3 (Collector's Edition apparently, which explains its high price. Yet nowhere on the box was printed "Collector's Edition", so I couldn't know!), and I thought I'd start with Castille. My first goal is to form Spain, and to be honest, it's all quite manageable. I'm not forced to jump right into the mess of European politics, but I can focus on my Iberian neighbours, on doing a bit of research and getting a feel for the game.

The manual is very helpful, and the strategy guide I paid an extra €10 for () is quite helpful as well.